Draw Without Borders

An initiative to provide free art education to oppressed women artists around the world.image: Karla Ortiz

The Story

We recently invited a young Iraqi woman named Nahrain to attend one of our online workshops. Only hours from a war zone, in an environment barren of art education, this individual strives to advance her abilities as a comic book artist. Despite societal, institutional, and frankly criminal barriers, she was still able to connect and learn from professional illustrators through our online platform. This moment embodied the profound and empowering ingenuity online education can unlock. It reminded us how interconnected our world has become and yet how unbalanced our liberties remain.

We all have different ways to inspire change. We think we found ours.

Image: Vanesa Del Rey

The Mission

As a small organization, we are fortunate to be part of an international community of profoundly talented artists. We are hoping that you can help us deliver art education to aspiring women artists from regions of the world that discourage or prohibit the progress of women in the visual arts. We believe this is a global issue, but we hope to focus our mission on regions and communities that are in critical need.

We firmly believe everyone deserves the right to pursue their dreams. We are in a unique situation where we have the ability to empower individuals who have been stripped of that right. We are calling this project Draw Without Borders.

Supported Regions

Afghanistan — Syria — Iraq — Yemen — Jordan — Iran — Turkey

Draw Without Borders is available to individuals affected by educational restrictions or limitations in the above regions.

We Need Your Help

We truly believe the community of globally-connected artists we have befriended can help us connect with individuals who need this resource most.

If you would benefit from this program, please complete our form below. If you think you know of someone who might benefit from this program, please share this information with them.

Draw Without Borders Application

Draw Without Borders Application

Name *

Name

Please do not email us on behalf of an individual. The potential student must complete this application on their own.

First Name

Last Name

Email Address *

Gender

Country of residence: *

Country of origin:

Do You have access to a computer? *

Do you have access to the internet? *

Tell us a little about yourself: *

Why are you interested in our workshops and how do you think our workshops might help you as an artist?

Do you want to pursue a career in art? What type of career do you want to pursue? *

We are not currently offering beginner workshops. We hope to accommodate beginners a once we have appropriate resources.

Are there any factors that might make attending these workshops difficult for you? *

Technical limitations, access to internet, etc.

Thank you for completing our application. We carefully consider every applicant for our Draw without Borders program. We have limited resources and a small team. We will do our best to welcome as many candidates as possible, but may not be able to accommodate all artists who apply due to many factors.

Image: Karla Ortiz

Additional Notes

We are currently in contact with a number of non-profits, in hopes of amplifying our mission.

We want this program to be as successful as possible. With that in mind, our concept will remain flexible and open to improvement. Any ideas and suggestions will be considered and appreciated.

We currently do not have the resources or capabilities to accommodate non-English speaking artists. We apologize for this limitation and hope that one day we can develop a program with broadened language capabilities.

These regions are just a start. If you are not included in these regions, we will still review your application.

If an applicant does not have access to wifi or a computer, as a small organization with limited resources, we will do our best to contact support groups in the applicant's region to find a location for you to access the workshop. We cannot guarantee access to a computer or wifi, but we will use our resources to the best of our abilities to help. It is largely dependent on the region and other variables.